It has become one of the strangest stories to come out of the New Year and one of the most puzzling for scientists and local officials: Just what caused 5,000 birds to fall from the sky just before midnight New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas?

As news of the story spread across the globe, so did speculation about what caused the Hitchcockian scene. And as officials wait for the official necropsy (animal autopsy) report, we're taking a look at some of the theories that officials and scientists have suggested.

Weather-related

Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail. This theory could hold in this case, she said, especially because a strong storm system moved through the state earlier Friday.

Rowe told Live Science that events like this have happened across the globe, and generally, weather is to blame. She said birds have been swept up and moved when caught up in hurricanes, wind can force them into a large object like a cliff, or large groups of birds can clash and crash in heavy fog, killing them.

Stephens said revelers, "possibly shooting some fireworks while the birds were roosting," could have scared them, causing trauma.

"That could have been what caused their deaths," he said.

But birds don't fall out of the sky whenever there are fireworks, so what makes this event different? Stephens said that in rural areas, birds can be more concentrated. And if fireworks were set off near them in a roosting area while they were sleeping, such a trauma could have killed them.

Poisoning or disease

Rowe said it wasn't likely that poisoning or another illness could be to blame.

“Since it only involved a flock of blackbirds and only involved them falling out of the sky it is unlikely they were poisoned, but a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds died from trauma or toxin,” she said in a commission press release.

Officials have also said that because the situation was isolated, and because other groups of the birds in separate areas were not killed, they don't suspect the birds were poisoned.

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Being Muslim do not make one a terrorists. Remember David Koresh, he calmed to be a Christian prophet sent by God, yet no one is ignorant enough to judge Christians from David Koresh's example (Christianity have spawned far more indignation then any other philosophy) . There are crazy ignorant fools hiding in all uneducated corners of every society, but America seems to have an overabundance ( SEARCH: A dicto simpliciter ;if you believe in a little self improvement).

A dicto simpliciter??? Self improvement?? You're right that being Muslim doesn't make one a terrorist. I'm not
Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Hindu so from my perspective all of those religions seem to "spawn indignation"
from each other. It seems to me that Muslims are a wee bit more inclined to be "indignant" or offended than the
others...Why is that? As for "ignorant fools", they're everywhere and in all religious faiths and they'll never be
anything else no matter how much "self improvement" they try...All the Popes, Pastors, Mullas, Rabis, or Gurus
in the world won't help them...Because they don't want it – fools enjoy their stupidity and they're proud of it.

DO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT CHRISTIANITY? I'M AN ATHIEST AND I KNOW WHAT CHRISTIANITY IS ABOUT, IT'S THE CHRISTIANS WHO ARE WRONG, AND NOT ALL OF THEM, THERE ARE PLENTY OF GOOD CHRISTIANS OUT THERE.
WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS THE SAME THING OTHERS ARE DOING TO MUSLIMS.

Where do you think LogicalPlausibility is from, Ryan? I'm sure if we look hard enough we can find as many
fools in his/her part of the world as there are in the U.S. Looks like his favorite fools would be followers of
some religion other than Christianity. I suspect there is a lot of sand in his part of the planet...

You'll find that per the NPR article, the WI lab has not concluded its investigation. They are waiting for test results, most likely from the USDA biodefense lab in Ames. Several AR and LA birds were sent there. The WI lab thinks the case of the AR birds is different from any other mass blackbird deaths they have studied in the past 5 years. There are already parties ready to dispute their expected findings.

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